The Chicago Bears take the road to face the Cleveland Browns in Week 3. Rookie quarterback Justin Fields makes his first career start. Here are some players who need to play well to help him get his first win.
The Chicago Bears travel to Cleveland to face the Browns in a Week 3 matchup. Earlier this week, the game got so much more interesting than we first thought. Starting quarterback Andy Dalton suffered what the team said was a bone bruise and is week to week. What that meant was that he wouldn’t be available at least this week.
Because of that, rookie Justin Fields, the kid Chicago Bears Nation tapped as the franchise quarterback their team spent its entire time in existence looking for, would get his first career start.
While the situation with Dalton’s injury isn’t an ideal time to have Fields get his first start, that’s what it is. The fans have been clamoring for Fields to start and now they have their wish.
Now we get to see how Fields performs when he’s the man. Yes, it’s still early in his career, but if he does well, he raises the fans’ hopes even higher.
Fields took a little bit of a hit last week when he relieved Dalton. He only completed six of his 13 passes for 60 yards, had no touchdowns, and threw an interception. Many critics point to those stats as proof that Fields isn’t ready yet. However, we have to keep in mind that he had no practice reps with the starters so there was no continuity.
We saw that in some of the passes that weren’t completed. Without knowing how receivers Allen Robinson and Darnell Mooney like the ball placement, the young quarterback suffered from a few drops that would have made his stats look completely different.
Now, though, we get to see how Fields looks when he executes a game plan tailored for his skills. Also, he spent the week getting to know the receivers better. Let’s see how he looks this week. In the meantime, here are five players who must step up and play well in order to help FIelds get his first career win as a starter.
5. Cole Kmet needs to be more involved in the offense
Okay, so I have Cole Kmet as needing to step up, but it can also be said about Jimmy Graham as well. For some strange reason, the Chicago Bears offense hasn’t gotten the tight ends involved in the offense.
So far this season, the tight ends combined have been targeted only 10 times, catching seven of them for 53 yards and zero touchdowns. Kmet received eight of the targets, catching six of them, for 42 yards.
Those numbers have to be better against the Browns. Kmet (and Graham) gives Fields a big target to go after. The big target is especially important in the red zone. Kmet will have a mismatch with whoever defends him.
We saw how having the big target helps in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams. There was a pass that Graham caught inside the Rams’ 5-yard line. Defensive back Jalen Ramsey covered Graham on that play. Up to that point, Ramsey was having an incredible game. He was flying all over the ball making big plays.
On this particular play, however, he was helpless to keep the ball away from Graham. The only thing he could do was push him out of bounds before Graham got into the end zone. On the next play, Fields ran the ball in for his first career touchdown.
This is what we need to see on Sunday. Kmet is the main tight end so he should get the opportunity to step up. If he does, it makes Fields’ job easier.